Analytical Modeling and Optimization of a Solar Chimney Power Plant

Wind and solar resources are diluted and intermittent on the earth; their combination allowed increasing their availability and stability. At great scale, the use of Solar Chimney Power Plant (SCPP) technique constitutes a promising alternative to fossil fuel for generating electrical power particularly in rich regions of natural resources such as solar, wind, terrain, built material, water. etc.). Recently, various research works investigate the design and optimization of these systems under operating conditions. The analysis of different studies carried out on (SCPP), allowed to develop a parametric modelization approach in steady state, founded on 1D heat and mass transfer inside the (SCPP) in order to describe, optimize and to assess its performances under the influence of geometric, operating and ambiance conditions using Matlab-Simulink code. From the present simulation results, the (SCPP) appeared feasible since the temperature gradient of the airflow between the inlet and outlet of the chimney attains 13 degrees C and remains constant during operating cycle. The (SCPP) output is strongly influenced by solar radiation intensity, air heater surface, and chimney height. The solar air heater, the tower (chimney) and the (SCPP) efficiencies obtained are 22.6%, 19.2% and 2.6% respectively.